Sunday, October 09, 2005

Perspective on corruption....

We get daily delivery of both the New York Times and the Boston Globe, and today's headline story in both was about the devastation in Pakistan as a result of yesterday's earthquake. The loss of life (currently being reported at 18000) is difficult to fathom, and the situation is dramatically illustrated by pictures on the front page of both newspapers. As intriguing are the different perspectives provided by those photos -- and the story behind the scene....

On the front page of the Globe we see a close up view of a crumbled building which obviously led to the death and injury of hundreds. The Times photo is clearly of the same scene, but from a perspective that gives us an even clearer idea of the collapsed structure. Most interesting is the fact that many of the structures surrounding the wreckage seem relatively untouched, or at least still standing tall. What may seem like a odd circumstance, however, is better understood in the following excerpt from an email sent to a friend from one of his associates in Islamabad: "The single most tragic loss (over 100 dead) was to Margalla Tower in Islamabad which collapsed obviously due to poor construction and defective materials used. All other structures of similar height standing next to it at the corner of F-10 are in tact."

This seems a case where the price of corruption and unethical behavior was paid by innocent victims who need not have died as a result of this particular earthquake.